| II was on the 62-63 cruise of the Valdez. We left from Ellis Island in November of 62 and flew to San Juan then on to Recife, Brazil, then to Ascencion Island to Monrovia, Liberia. I remember it was a blur except Recife. I spent the day on the beach and got sun-burned so bad I was afraid I would get court-martialed. I didn't let anyone know and got better after about a week. We sailed directly to Capetown where we spent 3 months in drydock. We stayed at some hotel a long way from the ship - can't remember the name, and only went to the ship for watch duty. It was quite a vacation. I remember spending every day on the beach. I got so brown that I looked like a native - except I had blond hair. One of the crew got so brown that the police tried to throw him off the beach. I was there with him when it happened. He pulled down his swim suit and they let him go. Capetown was quite a place! We then sailed to Monrovia, Libera where we spent a week or so. I remember some of us went on a camera safari at one of the national parks about 50 miles from Monrovia. I've got a picture standing next to a rhino. From Liberia we went to Durban SA for a week or so. Don't remember much about the place except it was modern and we had a lot of fun. From Durban we sailed to Port Elizabeth(I think) and didn't get Liberty. We then went around the Cape and got into a first class storm. I remember some of us going up to the lounge and watching the ship take water over the flying bridge. We thought it was fun then but I'd probably be scared to death now. I remember on our logs in our work spaces we recorded no movement of the ship for a solid week. We sailed directly into the wind and hoped for the best. What a ride! We put into port in Capetown again for a week or so and then left for the west coast part of the cruise. I remember almost getting left in Capetown - I barely made it back to the ship before it left. I stood muster but I don't remember if I had on my uniform or not. From Capetown we went to Angola and spent 90 days laying to outside Luanda harbor. I remember the Portuguese didn't appreciate us at all and sent planes out to look us over and then a warship with a five inch gun. We were all sweating bullets and getting ready to jetison everything when someone made a deal with someone and saved our butts. We then went to Libreville, Gabon and it was so disease ridden we had to anchor out three miles away from port. I remember someone tried to start up a crane on the dock - that was about all the excitememt you could have there. It was there that myself and two other guys (don't remember who) tried to steal a boat to get back to the ship and it sank! Needless to say we didn't make it. We sailed to Lagos, Nigeria and stayed a week or so. Lagos was a dangerous place - still is, and some of our guys got mugged. From Lagos we sailed to Abidjan, Ivory Coast and stayed a week or so. Very nice place - French speaking, modern town. From Abidjan we went to Freetown, Sierra Leone. I don't remembr much about the place except we had to anchor out and use boats to get in to shore. From Freetown we went back to Monrovia and took on a new crew. I remember two things about that stay. Me and two other guys turned over a cab because the cab driver tried to mug us. The other thing was I insulted one of the new officers and got into trouble but he forgave me after we got underway. We went from Monrovia back to Capetown where we spent a couple of days and then boarded a plane for the states. We flew to Leopoldville, Congo and I remember very vividly that there was a full-blown firefight going on just past the runway. We had to go into the terminal and stay and drink congolese beer until it was over and we could leave. Then we flew to Ascencion, Recife, Zanderij, Charleston, SC. One of the funniest things I remember on the cruise was someone traded a carton of cigarettes for a native and his boat. True story. I don't remember where it happened - I believe in Freetown. I remember it because i had deck watch that day when he came back off of liberty. There was his new "slave" with him that he had bought with the cigarettes! We had to turn him away and I guess he got his freedom.---------------------------------------------------Joe Blevins 62-63 Crew |
